El Chapulín Colorado is one of the most successful Mexican sitcoms of its generation. First conceived by Roberto "Chespirito" Bolaños in 1970 as part of his solo effort Los Supergenios de la Mesa Cuadrada, "El Chapulín Colorado" - often considered one of the most familiar symbols of Mexican culture - is a response to the usual American superhero: he is clever as expected, but not without overcoming his own silliness first. Despite this, "El Chapulín" is always willing to help his summoners no matter the situation, even if this means helping his enemies.

As an independent series, around 280 episodes of El Chapulín Colorado were aired between 1973 and 1979, from which about 40 are absent from Televisa's current distribution pack for the same reason as many episodes of its sister series, El Chavo del Ocho.

Contents

Episode List

Below is a complete list of all lost episodes whose existence is proven through information collected by fans. According to Lista CH, in addition to the 32 episodes listed, eight more completely unknown episodes are currently undistributed by Televisa.

Key:Green - Found episodes available in Spanish.Gold - Found episodes not available in Spanish.Orange - Partially available episodes/excerpts.Red - Completely lost episodes.

Note: the episode titles used in here are not official since the actual titles are unknown due to the episodes' lost nature. Titles from previous/later versions of the episodes are used instead (e.g. the lost 1973 episode "Las caricaturas me hacen llorar" is named after its common 1976 remake). Original airdates are either taken from Tele-Guía magazines or determined through deduction.

Season 1 (1973)

Unofficial Title

Original Airdate

"R.S.E."

March 7, 1973

Discovered through a synopsis from Tele-Guía.[1] Includes a Doctor Chapatín sketch. A remake, made in 1975, is also missing.

"Las caricaturas me hacen llorar"

June 27, 1973

Discovered through a synopsis from Tele-Guía. Includes a Doctor Chapatín sketch.

"Aventuras en Venus"

July 11, 1973

Found through a VHS tape recording from the early 90's. Only available in Brazilian Portuguese, rendering the original audio missing.

Season 2 (1974)

Unofficial Title

Original Airdate

"La bella durmiente era un señor muy feo - parte 1"

January 18, 1974

Discovered through a synopsis from Tele-Guía.[3] First episode of a two-episode arc. Remade in 1976 as a three-episode arc, whose first episode is also missing. Interestingly enough, another remake - made in 1982 as part of Programa Chespirito - is also missing its first episode.

Footage of this episode is used on "Conferencia sobre un Chapulín", an episode that served the purpose of introducing the series to the viewers of Televisa's Canal 2 after it moved from Canal 8 in 1974. Its airdate was discovered through a synopsis from Tele-Guía.[5]

"Más vale una mujer joven, rica y bonita que una vieja, pobre y fea"

April 5, 1974

Footage of this episode is used on "Conferencia sobre un Chapulín".

"El bandido del hospital"

April 12, 1974

Footage of this episode is used on "Conferencia sobre un Chapulín". A vague Tele-Guía synopsis is believed to refer to this episode.[6]

"Los valientes mueren pandeados"

May 10, 1974

Footage of this episode is used on "Conferencia sobre un Chapulín". Its airdate was discovered through a synopsis from Tele-Guía.[7]

"Colección de rateros"

May 17, 1974

Footage of this episode is used on "Conferencia sobre un Chapulín".

"Aristócratas vemos, rateros no sabemos"

June 29, 1974

Discovered through a synopsis from Tele-Guía.[8] The official website of the 2012 event América Celebra a Chespirito mistakenly attributed this airdate to the common 1978 remake, aiding on its identification process.

"El vampiro"

September 28, 1974

Discovered through a synopsis from Tele-Guía. Photographic evidence of this episode's existence exists.

Announced by Florinda in the end of "Los antiguos piratas del Caribe sólo de vez en cuando desviaban a Cuba - parte 2". Final episode of a three-episode arc. For reasons unknown, the closing credits of the second episode have been altered from its original cut, suggesting that the currently used sequence is taken from the lost third episode.

A brief summary of this episode is present in the beginning of "La bella durmiente era un señor muy feo - parte 2". First episode of a three-episode arc. Remake of a two-episode arc from 1973, whose first episode is also missing.

Footage of this episode was used by Chilean TV network TVN during an interview with Chespirito in 2008. Includes a Doctor Chapatín sketch.

Unknown Episode

January 1, 1977

Discovered through a synopsis from Tele-Guía.[17] Not much is known about this episode, but its synopsis suggests that it may follow the same concept as the 1974 episode "Conferencia sobre un Chapulín", featuring excerpts of episodes from the 1976 season.

Seasons 5-7 (1977-1979)

Unofficial Title

Original Airdate

"A pistola regalada no le mires agujero - parte 1"

February 19, 1977

A brief summary of this episode is present in the beginning of "A pistola regalada no le mires agujero - parte 2".

"Todo sube, hasta los aviones - parte 2"

September 14, 1977

Announced in the end of "Todo sube, hasta los aviones - parte 1".

"Los fantasmas del Viejo Oeste"

November 16, 1977

Discovered through a synopsis from Tele-Guía.[18] Re-aired in 1979.[19]

"Las pulgas"

May 31, 1978

Aired regularly through Brazilian network SBT. Only available in Brazilian Portuguese, rendering the original audio missing. Includes the Doctor Chapatín sketch "El contrabando".

Videos

Excerpts

"Conferencia sobre un Chapulín" (1974) – this episode features excerpts of several lost episodes from its year.

References

Special thanks to Cássio Ferreira, Guilherme Leão and several other members of Fórum Chaves (a complete name list is available on the "Guia de episódios..." link below), for their priceless contributions on the finding of synopses related to missing episodes.